A weekend in Honduras

I just had one of the best weekends I have had so far in Honduras...

It started out on Friday, at about 11:15...I went to the bus time to inquire about what time the bus left for Santa Lucia (where Erin lives) and found that the bus didn't leave until 12:30....so, since I had extra time, i enjoyed an ice cold pepsi from a glass bottle...

Then I began walking toward the main road where there is a bus stop, to see if I might be able to get another bus, or find some other means of transportation.  A truck pulled up next to me, and the driver asked me if I wanted a ride, and of course I did..i love a jalone! I hopped in back, with three other Honduran women.  I have never looked so conspicuous in my life...when I got to my bus stop, I banged on the side of the truck, the driver stopped and I hopped out...I had the 2nd biggest grin of my life on at this time...

I waited at the bus stop for about an hour, and a bus never came...but then I finally saw my original bus approaching, with about 10 boys sitting on top, so I knew the bus was already PACKED, and three more of us had to get on...we squeezed in, and I stood in the door of the bus, hanging onto the bus around the window, next to the ayudante (bus helper), with my backpack totally out of the bus...this was when I was wearing the biggest grin of my life...

also, it is important to know that the road looks like this, the entire way:

actually, this is the good part of the road...

sadly, i was only able to stand in the doorway for about 10 minutes before several seats opened up...

The electricity in Santa Lucia was off for most of the day on Saturday, so I spent the day laying in the hammock catching up on some reading.

Sunday morning Erin and I, along with two other members of a medical brigade at her clinic, woke up at 4am for a sunrise hike.  We hiked for 58 minutes uphill to watch the sun come up, and it was spectacular...i don't really love hiking, and this was worth waking up for, and hiking up hill for:

it was far more beautiful than the pictures portray

After the hike, drinking copious amounts of coffee, and a nap, we went to the river...and walked across this into El Salvador:

the bridge from the picnic/swimming spot

then we swam across the river back to Honduras, then returned to El Salvador for lunch...an El Salvadorian ice cream man even came to our picnic, and we all bought ice cream bars!

See, I'm in El Salvador!

When we returned home, we cut up a HUGE ayote (pumpkin squash) and Maria cooked it for us in a huge pot, and added a ginormous block of brown sugar, whole all spice, and cloves:

it tasted like the holidays at home!

Maria covered it with plantain leaves from the tree right outside the kitchen, and let it cook over the open flame for a couple of hours:

While the ayote was cooking, we went to a little Chinese restaurant in Santa Lucia, where we ate some of the best Chinese food I have ever had...then we returned to the clinic and enjoyed the ayote...it tasted like pumpkin pie, without the crust...next time I am eating it with ice cream, and pouring a little of the juice from it in my coffee to make a pumpkin spice coffee! luckily there are several more ayotes to be cooked!

I hopped on the bus this morning at 6 and returned home to camasca and began my work at schooo, but not before stopping and having "plato typico" (beans, cheese, eggs, fried plantains and fresh corn tortillas) with coffee at the little restaurant in Camasca.

I could get used to weekends like this!